


Trial Run

by greygerbil



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 07:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15286680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/pseuds/greygerbil
Summary: Sara has never been on a date and Georgi hasn't really found motivation to work on his love life after Anya dumped him. Mila wants to solve two problems at once by sending them on a mock date to get them both back in the game. It works out a lot better than expected.





	Trial Run

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Allekha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allekha/gifts).



> I'd never considered this pairing before, but it was a lot of fun to write. Thanks for suggesting it and for the prompts, too!

“So you’re staying?”

Sara nodded her head before swallowing a sip of the authentic Russian vodka Mila had talked her into trying, grimacing as it tried to burn another hole in her throat. The drinks she might have to get used to, but otherwise, she liked St. Petersburg, and getting a chance to do a season at Yakov’s rink was not something you just passed up.

“We’ll look for an apartment and then fly back to Naples to get our stuff,” she answered.

Mila clapped her hands once and grinned.

“Perfect. It’s going to be fun skating with you. I haven’t really had competition at the rink for a while. Besides, maybe I can finally get you a date.”

“If we can sneak him past Mickey,” Sara joked.

Her brother had excused himself from this night out with their future rink-mates, having never been much of a drinker or a bar hopper, and figuring that Sara would be save in Mila’s hands. That impression would probably wane the first time Mila got her some guy’s number, but for now Sara still enjoyed not having to fight about it.

“We’ll find someone brave enough. How much experience do you have, anyway?”

“None,” Sara said, frankly. To be honest, she hadn’t used to look much, either. It wasn’t _only_ Mickey’s fault. Clinginess was a shared trait, though not one of her better ones. That was where her opinion differed from her brother’s, who considered it completely normal. “I’m honestly not sure what to expect of it – you know, going on a date. I almost feel like I should practice, considering I’m already twenty-two,” she joked. “Guys will think that I know what’s going on.”

Thinking for a moment, Mila swirled the whiskey in her glass.

“Maybe that can be arranged.”

She took a peanut and chucked it across the table at Georgi, who sat next to Sara but had turned his back to them as he was talking to Yuuri. The peanut bounced off his shoulder. He turned.

“What is it?” he asked Mila.

“You need to go on a date with Sara.”

“What?”

Sara figured her expression looked as incredulous as Georgi sounded.

“Look, I’m done watching you mope. You had, what, one date since Anya broke up with you? And that was just sitting around in a café from what you told, you’re not usually that boring.” She picked up another peanut and pointed it at Sara. “Sara here has never had a date at all. I’m not saying you two should actually go out, just do a – trial run. It could be fun. You can get out again, and Sara won’t shake in her high heels before her first real date.”

“I’m not a coward,” Sara said, kicking her gently under the table. Mila snickered.

Before Sara could protest or agree, and she wasn’t sure which she’d have chosen, Victor caught Mila’s attention by the more conservative method of a wave instead of a weaponised peanut. Mila smiled briefly at her before she scooted over on the bench, leaving Georgi and Sara to themselves.

Glancing up, Sara caught Georgi’s eye.

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” she told him. “I’m sure Mila is just drunk.”

Georgi played with the straw of his cocktail glass. His was the most colourful drink at the table. Not really playing into the stereotype of the typical Russian man, but Sara couldn’t fault him because if people had made her drink vodka like this since she was old enough to have alcohol, she’d have fled into the arms of sweet cocktails, too. She kind of wanted his drink, actually.

“I think if I don’t do it, she’s going to throw me over the side of the rink,” he said. “But is that going to hurt more than your brother trying to beat me up?”

Sara had to laugh, even as she winced internally at the fact that apparently she and Mickey already had a reputation among their colleagues. Well, Mickey wasn’t subtle.

“Probably,” she said. “Mila is pretty tough.”

Georgi chuckled.

“I _would_ like to get to know you better now that we will work together,” he added, more sternly.

Sara nodded her head. It wouldn’t hurt, and it might even be kind of fun to go on a date that didn’t have to mean anything. Georgi seemed by all accounts a bit idiosyncratic, but ultimately friendly. He wasn’t too hard on the eyes, either, although she did have the urge to mess up his hair a bit.

“So…”

“Are you free tomorrow?”

Sara smiled at that question she’d heard in so many TV shows.

“Yes.”

“What would you like to do?”

Sara considered for a moment, but then shrugged her shoulders.

“Surprise me,” she said.

-

New Holland Island was only a twenty minute walk from Sara’s hotel. By the time she started on her way at half past five, St. Petersburg was already alight with street lanterns as the sinking sun hid behind thick grey clouds. The wind blew a thin mist of snow into her face. The sight of the city sinking into darkness was a welcome distraction from her nerves, which decided to act up for no reason at all. This whole thing was just a joke, after all!

Georgi stood at a wrought iron balustrade just next to the bridge that led to the island, looking over the river. His long black mantle and dark scarf fluttered in the sharp gusts and his expression was thoughtful. He actually looked dignified standing there in the twilight, like he had stepped out of some 19th century Russian novel all about war and unrequited love. She had to smile at the thought.

Her footsteps alerted Georgi and startled him from whatever he had been so deeply thinking about and he turned, smiling as he saw her.

“Good evening. You look marvellous.”

There was some gravity in the way he spoke and he even gave her his hand to shake. Sara tried not to chuckle as she did so. She kind of liked how seriously he seemed to take everything, but, even if this was just a mock date, she had to admit she had actually spent some time deliberating her outfit, picking the beige coat and form-fitting leather pants that were probably too thin for the weather but looked best with her favourite boots.

“Thank you.”

“Did you find this place alright?”

“Yes, but I didn’t take the bus like you said. The city is pretty with the snow, so I wanted to walk.”

Georgi nodded his head.

“Does it ever snow in Naples?”

“Sometimes, but it usually just stays for a day or two, if that.”

“I think St. Petersburg is magnificent in the snow, it’s maybe the most beautiful way to see it... oh, aside from the White Nights, of course.”

“What’s that?” Sara asked.

They were making their way across the bridge now, the dark water flowing underneath, catching the light of the lanterns.

“There are nights in June when the sun doesn’t go down at all. You will like it! The sky looks ethereal and it feels like time is suspended,” Georgi said with deep appreciation in his voice.

“That sounds pretty cool.”

Sara wished briefly she had something more interesting to say to that. Already it felt like Georgi kept the conversation going while she just bounced back the balls he played to her and it made her anxious to think what it would be like when there were real stakes to a date.

The bridge led onto a broad street on which they walked past naked trees and a big, round stone building.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Georgi said with a mischievous smile.

Sara didn’t have to wait long. As soon as they had made it past the next line of trees, she saw an ice rink in the distance, surrounded by iron posts from which big fairy lights hung, glimmering in the dust of snow.

“We’re going ice-skating?”

“I don’t know you very well and I wanted to do something you’d be sure to enjoy,” Georgi admitted.

“I haven’t been on an open-air rink in ages!” Sara said, smiling broadly. “Should we have brought our skates?”

“That would have ruined the surprise,” Georgi answered. “I think it’s better with rented boots, anyway. Otherwise, it feels too serious. Like training.”

“You’re probably right,” Sara said. She wouldn’t have considered that, but from having talked to Georgi when he tagged along with Mila at competitions, she knew he put an inordinate amount of thought into most things he did, infusing it all with some deeper meaning, whether it really deserved it or not.

“What is your shoe size if I may ask?” Georgi said, as he led her towards a blocky building right by the open-air rink.

After Sara had told him, he went to the booth to pay for both of them and came back with two beat-up looking pairs of dark grey skates. Georgi brought her heeled boots and his black loafers back to cashier, who stored them in a shelf at the back.

“Are we really walking to the rink across the gravel without skate guards? I feel like I’m mistreating a pet,” Sara muttered, getting up from the steps where she’d sat to pull the skates on.

Georgi laughed quietly.

“They’re used to worse,” he promised.

When they had made it to the ice, Sara did a few careful steps on the blunt edges of the skates, getting used to their feel. It was a whole different atmosphere than on a professional rink. She saw people swaying forwards and backwards barely staying on their feet, or clinging to the wooden fence while bravely pushing ahead. There were children going all over the place holding on to props shaped like polar bears and penguins to stay afoot, whereas others easily held themselves and slalomed between the less experienced skaters, some even going backwards to show off. With the snow and the lights all around the rink, it felt like a scene from a Christmas post card, even though it was the middle of March.

“This is great,” she said, turning as she waited for Georgi to catch up.

Georgi smiled, pleased.

“I’m happy you like it. I love skating on different types of ice. It reminds me of what I see in skating. Here, it’s so lively and full of joy. But I also go to skate on the lakes outside St. Petersburg sometimes – far out, where there’s nothing but snow and forest and fields. That’s like meditation in movement.”

“You have to take me some time,” Sara said, captured by the wistful note in Georgi’s tone.

“Gladly. But first,” he offered her his hand, palm up, “since this is supposed to be a date...”

“Oh – yes.”

There were other couples on the rink holding hands, too, and she let Georgi pull her into the sluggish circle that most of the people on the ice were trying to follow, those with enough skill to stay upright and push into a consistent direction, anyway. After a few moments, she experimentally tightened her fingers around his, turning the careful grasp he had had on her into real handholding. It was easier to stay steady this way on the wobbly used skates and besides – it was kind of fun. She’d never done even this much with a man before and knowing that other people probably thought they were on a real date was exciting if only because the amount of times her brother and Sara had been confused for a couple by onlookers was honestly disheartening. At least Georgi would have been an actually viable option.

Georgi glanced down at her, looking surprised for a moment before he fit his hand more comfortably into hers.

She let her gaze wander over the ice and saw a couple who were obviously trying to get some kind of figure going, both giggling as one girl was holding on to the other and carefully lifted one leg off the ice, leaning forward, only to almost stumble into the wooden rink-side border. They broke out into laughter.

“Hey,” she tugged at Georgi’s arm and nodded her head at them, “should we do a little pair skating? I haven’t had another partner but Mickey in ages.”

Mickey wouldn’t have stood for that and Sara hadn’t seen a reason to stray from his side, either, since they worked well together. Lately, though, she had been interested to know what it would be like to skate with someone else, maybe someone she couldn’t read as well yet, who would challenge her in some way.

“I think I still know how to do a few figures,” Georgi said, “but I’m better at ice dancing.”

He used to date an ice dancer, Sara remembered, but there was no yearning in Georgi’s face this time, as there had been in his performances during the season; he was focused on her.

“I don’t think these skates would survive a jump out of a lift, anyway,” Sara said with a laugh. “Let’s just do some easy ones.”

She slowed her step a little and led the way out of the thickest part of the throng to the side, where there was some room between the more experienced skaters and those clinging to the barriers. She put an arm around Georgi’s neck and he responded automatically by placing his arm around her hip. It was a rather timid hold that tightened quickly, however, when she wrapped her leg around his and lifted her other foot off the ice, putting her whole weight on him for a simple straight line lift.

Whenever there was enough room for them, they would try out something new: another straight line lift but with her foot up to his shoulder, a layback lift where Georgi kept her up as she bent back over his arms around her waist, even a cartwheel lift that had her coat falling over her head and earned them applause from the people around them. She was surprised to find he had the upper body strength to keep her up for a long lift rotating across the ice and then looping out into a curve to avoid a plastic seal with a three-year-old at the wheel.

Georgi had a different style than her brother, though part of that could be that he was not as comfortable with taking liberties, despite the layers of assorted winter clothes that separated them. Still, his movements where smoother, with a certain ballet-like poise to them that she struggled at first to match.

Their elements were connected by basic steps, a simple waltz serpentining the other skaters. That was _a lot_ more fun than it had ever been with her brother because Sara figured out that she could make Georgi look somewhere between sheepish and curious when she came too close for the gliding parts, and maybe the pink colour on his cheeks wasn’t just from the cold.

While the families filtered out eventually as the last remnants of sunlight disappeared, leaving the rink bathed in lamp light, groups of rowdy teenagers filled in instead, making the ice too crowded for any adventurous manoeuvres, and eventually Georgi asked her if she wanted to move on.

“I thought we could go to a restaurant here. There is a Mexican one that’s really good.”

“Let’s go,” Sara said. As long as it wasn’t the end of the pretend-date yet. It felt way too early into the night.

They sat down on some low stone steps to get back into their shoes.

“You would have made an excellent pair skater,” Georgi said with a smile.

“I used to think I might be one when I was a novice, with Mickey, but my coach pushed me towards singles skating instead,” Sara answered. “It was for the better. We still do ice shows, though, so I get a lot of practice.”

“It’s nice that you and your brother are so, uhm, close,” Georgi said, looping a black shoelace around his finger.

“You can say it’s weird,” Sara sighed. “That’s something a real date would probably bring up.”

“You shouldn’t listen to them, then,” Georgi answered with conviction as he got to his feet and offered her his hand once more, this time to help her up. She took it. “Love is precious and you _are_ twins, after all, so you’ll always have a special bond. Even if you’re dating someone.”

“I guess so,” Sara said with a brief smile. Hopefully Mickey would come to see it the same way. “Do you have siblings?”

“Yes, but my brothers barely manage to text me for my birthday,” Georgi answered with a wistful sigh. “I miss them.”

“I couldn’t imagine that.”

Sara followed him away from the rink and the din of teenagers laughing and screaming abated, leaving the crunching noise of their feet on the thin sheet of fresh snow. It was not a long walk to the restaurant. Once inside, Georgi took her coat and hung it up while she followed the waiter to a table by the window. When Georgi returned, he glanced at the small vase of flowers that sat in the middle of the table.

“Oh, burgundy roses! Those would be a good sign for a real first date.”

“Why?” Sara asked, curiously, pushing at the head of a rose with her fingertip.

“Burgundy roses mean deep, abiding passion.”

“Is that flower language?” Sara asked. “I thought all roses just meant ‘love’.”

“They do, in a way, but of course all love is not the same,” Georgi said eagerly. “There are as many shades as colours of roses.”

Sara picked up the menu and hid another smile. It shouldn’t surprise her that someone like Georgi had spent time thinking about the meanings of different-coloured roses. She’d seen the costumes he’d worn over the years. His aesthetic needed some getting used to, but it was certainly well-thought-out. She already knew he was a romantic, too.

“What do the other rose colours mean?”

-

When they were done eating, Sara guessed she knew more about flowers than some florists, related to her by an effusively enthusiastic Georgi, and Georgi had patiently sat through a run-down of her twenty-three cousins sparked by a call she got from one of them and had even retained some names by the end.

Georgi insisted that he would walk her home, as it was now the dead of night, and Sara had no intentions of shaking him off earlier than necessary. In fact, she hadn’t even noticed they had arrived when Georgi interrupted her musings on what to do for a free skate to ask if this wasn’t the hotel she’d mentioned.

Sara stopped before the entrance, where the fresh snow glowed faintly blue in cold neon light coming through the glass doors.

“Mickey and me are coming to the rink tomorrow to speak to Yakov. Maybe I could bring the music I might use.”

“I don’t have much of a concept of Italian folk, but you made your choice seem very interesting,” Georgi answered. “There’s a cafeteria at the rink…”

“We should have lunch,” Sara decided.

Georgi nodded his head and smiled.

They stood in silence for a moment. Georgi gave her a long look before he quickly turned his head to watch a passing car in the street for what seemed like no particular reason.

“I should get going,” he said.

“Yes, it’s getting late.”

Georgi leaned in for a friendly hug goodbye, less formal than his beginning handshake, and Sara returned it. If it was up to her, they could have stayed at the restaurant until closing time. She hadn’t expected it to be so easy to hang around a man she didn’t know all that well and who wasn’t as puppy-like as Emil, or even that she would enjoy it this much.

“I’m glad that you are coming to St. Petersburg,” Georgi said as he leaned back. “I had a lot of fun tonight and I think it will be inspiring to skate with someone who-”

The rest of the sentence died on his lips as Sara got on her toes to kiss him. He still stared at her when she leaned back.

“This is how good dates end, right?” she asked.

Georgi was very obviously blushing now.

“... yes.”

“I’m happy we’ll stay in St. Peterburg, too,” Sara said. “Good night.”

When she glanced over her shoulder through the glass doors, she saw Georgi still standing there looking after her. She felt a flutter in her stomach.

Dating was a lot more fun than she’d imagined.

-

When Sara opened the door to the room she shared with Mickey and took one look at her brother’s face, it felt like the temperature had dropped ten degrees from even outside, where it was a snow-covered Russian winter night.

“Sara!”

“What is it now?” she asked, barely holding back a sigh.

“Where were you all this time?”

“What do you mean?” She shook snowflakes out of her hair before she pulled off her shoes. “I told you I was going out with a friend from the rink.”

“I though you meant Mila!” Mickey said, full of indignation.

“How do you even know it wasn’t her?”

Had Mickey seen them through the window? Even he wasn’t obsessive enough to be stuck there all evening waiting for her to return, but to be fair, he could have just happened to look out at the right moment.

However, her brother took his phone from the nightstand and shoved it at Sara, full of pouting accusation.

“Someone just put this on instagram.”

**stpetegirl98** I saw @sara-crispino out with @georgi.popovich on the #NewHollandIceRink tonight??

 **coollibra** i didnt even know she was in russia

 **lovetonight349** Cute  <3

 **beautifulwinterworld** Is she there with @mickey-crispino or alone? Visiting her bf?

 **quadaxel** I want to see a pair skate!

Sara wasn’t a fan of having fan photos taken without her knowledge, but she had to admit that whoever had gotten this snapshot had found a pretty good angle. After taking a long look at Georgi’s face in the picture, the way he smiled at her, she finally handed his phone back to Mickey and got out her own. As she expected, she found the picture in her own mentions, too.

“What are you doing?” Mickey asked.

“Liking the picture,” she said, raising a brow at his incredulous expression.

She wondered if Georgi had seen it yet.


End file.
